VOL 27 No. 24
State DHIA welcomes new center
f Sam Smith, left, Penn State dean of
Agriculture and Oliver Butler, center, presi
dent»«|tha state DHIA board cast history to .
the wjndTTiiesday. as they officially open the
USDA says ‘handle’
Md. tobacco like Pa.
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
TERRE HILL Admitting the
Lancaster County tobacco quota
situation is unique, USDA officials
apparently will give growers of
Maryland tobacco a temporary
period of grace of sorts this year.
But the key to this reprieve,
which came out of a Monday
.morning meeting attended by
'several hundred growers, appears
to center on how the Maryland
tobacco is handled - planted,
grown, harvested and marketed.
Essentially, if the Maryland
tobacco is handled like Penn
sylvania tobacco, which is exempt
from quotas, the USDA officials
see no problem.
But, particularly in the area of
marketing, if significant amounts
of Maryland tobacco end up in the
burley trade channels, the same
officials did not completely rule
out quota penalities.
"It depends on what you’re going
to do with it,” explained Thomas
Von Garlem, assistant ad
ministrator of the USDA’s
Agricultural Marketing Service.
If you handle it the same, use
similar cultural practices as
p ennsylvama 41 and sell it into
igar channels, you won’t have a
orobiem with us ”
But if too much shows up m the
burlev channels, there could be a
problem, he still indicated
James Dayis. director of USDA’s
lobaceo ana Peanut Division, told
die growers
state’s new PHIA building at Penn State. Join
ing them in the historic ribbon cutting
ceremony is Robert Patterson, right senior
vice president of Penn State.
“If you raise Maryland tobacco
and sell it as Maryland tobacco,
you’re running into the law.”
The USDA officials also held out
little hope for new legislation in
troduced by Rep. Robert Walker to
exempt Pennsylvania from the
tobacco quota program.
(Turn to Page A 34)
Just as another season of fielcT activity was
about to move into high gear. Mother Nature
stepped in this week and caused a drastic shift
>n many agricultural plans. This solitary,
silenced plow in the midst of a field of white
graphically illustrates the results of the sur
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 10,1982
Index , page 3
Co-ops contend with spring flush
LANCASTER Is it Spring
Flush, yet? According to a few
dairy co-ops, the answers are yes,.
no and maybe.
“We’re no where near surplus
levels yet,” remarked Milk
UNIVERSITY PARK - State
and national DHIA officials
gathered at Penn State, Tuesday,
to officially open Pennsylvania’s
new $290,000 DHIA building, which
more than doubled the size of the
previous facility, said dairy Ex
tension head Don Ace.
George Gramling, director of
field service* for the National
DHIA was among several guests to
help commemorate the special
occasion. In an exclusive in
terview, Gramling revealed
starfling facts about an upcoming
national DHIA program which
coold have a major impact on the
dairy industry. His story appears
onpageA32.
Although Tuesday’s ribbon
cutting ceremony had to compete
with high winds and hopefully the
last snowstorm of the year, more
than SO people (waved poor road
conditions to witness the oc
casslonr 7
'For the first time in the
Association’s 70-year existence,
the entire DHIA operation, from
receiving to lab work, is housed in
one facility. In 1970, one half of the
new building, which contains the
lab, began operating. The com
pleted second half includes ad
ditional computer space, offices,
the meter-testing room and the
receiving area.
And it seems the new building
was defintely timely. In March
1962, more than 310,000 samples
were tested in the lab, the largest
Marketing Inc. manager Andy
Langmyer.
“Our production was up some,
but the cold spell seemed to knock
it back down,” he said. Langmyer
explained that the large western
prise spring snowstorm and near blizzard
conditions that hit many areas. Even the tillers
using a plow such as this, who often get a jump
on their mechanized neighbors were brought
to a standstill by the unseasonable storm and
cold.
BY DONNA TOMMELLEO
$7.50 ptr year
month in history, said Ace. The
Association’s 220 supervisors
currently test about 6,000 herds.
The Extension chief recalled the
* Association’s meager beginning
which included just 22 fanners and
500 cows averaging about 5,000
pounds of milk, annually. In the
1940’5, the state DHIA tested 49,000
cows producing about 8,500 pounds
of milk a year. When the first half
of the building opened 12 years
ago, the Association was testing
just less than 170,000 cows.
The increase m herd numbers
and samples was accomplished,
said Ace, with approximately the
same number of supervisors.
Sam Smith, Dean of the College
of Agriculture, tapped the new
facility as a “tribute to
coooeration,” between the
University, DHIA and producers.
Smith said the completed building
will promote “efficiency in a
pleasant surrounding.” Among
other firsts. Smith noted that
Pennsylvania was the first state to
utilize computer recordkeeping.
President'"Of the state DHIA
board Oliver Butler, echoed
Smith’s sentiments but added that
increased efficiency is a must,
especially in today’s economy. The
Tioga County dairyman repotted
that key DHIA positions were lost
due to retirements and a tightening
budget blocked re-appointments.
According to Ray Pruas, DHIA
administrative assistant, in
creased efficiency has become a
reality in the expanded operation.
Sophisticated computers have
eliminated the time-consuming
(Turn to Page A2B)
' Pennsylvania dairy co-op still has
adequate outlets through either its
three major plants or cheese
plants in western Pa. and eastern
Ohio.
Most of the milk produced in
western Pa. is shipped to MMTs
Orrville, Ohio plant. Langmyer
said he doesn’t expect conditions to
tighten until the end of May.
Dairylea spokesman Bruce Snow
remarked that in the past, the
back-up created by Easter
weekend was always a good in
dication of the severity of the
remainder of the flush,
“This is not the case at the
moment,” he said.
Snow admitted his co-op was up
in production but the
organization’s five manufacturing
plants are in no danger of running
out of space.
“In fact, if someone is looking
for some extra space, for a price,
they can give us a call.” he offered
But below the Mason-Dixon line,
space is not as plentiful.
R L Strock, general manager of
Dairymen. Inc Mid-Atlantic
division said things are getting
tight
“We’ve had to ship milk out of
the marketing area m varymg
degrees since Christmas ” Stiock
explained
In anticipation of this year’s
Jurnto Page A 39;